


goodnight monster

by Sorunort



Category: Tales of Crestoria
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Monster Vicious, and a bit of cuddling and tickling and hair combing, i got such a kick out of the monster perfume from the annie and hilda event, its just short and sweet Thats all there is to it, so i wrote a tiny fluffy fic to go along with my fave vicious theory, soft, vicious becomes a big cat and thats about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorunort/pseuds/Sorunort
Summary: Vicious was, without a doubt, a mysterious and tantalizing person- if he could be called that. Calling him a person didn’t feel right. Paired with plenty of other odd reasons, such as the ability to draw out a transgressor’s blood sin, the most recent occurrence only further convinced Aegis that Vicious wasn’t all he appeared to be.*after an accident with a monster-attracting perfume, aegis suspects there's something more sinister about vicious lurking beneath the surface.
Relationships: Aegis Alver/Vicious
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	goodnight monster

**Author's Note:**

> YOU EVER NOTICE HOW VICIOUS KINDA LOOKS LIKE THAT SIN & PUNISHMENT MONSTER???? YEAH ME TOO. I LOVE THE 'VICIOUS IS SECRETLY A MONSTER' THEORY SO HERE HE IS ASCENDING TO HIS FINAL FORM: A SLEEPY CAT.
> 
> THANK YOU KATT FOR PROOFING THIS AND LEAVING FUN LITTLE COMMENTS LIKE "ALL OF YOU ARE SO MEAN LET HIM BE GAY IN PEACE" AND "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA HES DOIN THE STRETCHY PAW!!!!! STRETCHY PAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Vicious was, without a doubt, a mysterious and tantalizing person- if he could be called that. There were so many secrets about the Great Transgressor just waiting to be discovered. Aegis wanted nothing more than to snatch up the little hints Vicious dangled just out of his reach. But to call him a person didn’t feel _right_. Paired with plenty of other odd reasons, such as the ability to draw out a transgressor’s blood sin, the most recent occurrence only further convinced Aegis that Vicious wasn’t all he appeared to be.

It all started earlier in the day. What was supposed to be a quick trip through a small town for some supplies turned into an overnight stay. Kanata caught wind of a monster that had a habit of invading and ransacking the town at random and refused to leave without slaying the beast. Naturally Misella was all for it, praising him for being a righteous light _yet again_ , and Yuna and Aegis followed suit. Vicious didn’t seem to care but agreed just for the sake of jumping into a fight.

Perhaps in the most Kanata way possible, he decided to make use of a bottle of perfume they acquired a few towns back. Supposedly its scent lured monsters, and Kanata thought to leave the bottle out far from the town so they could fight without any villagers getting caught in the crossfire. He managed to walk the whole way to the designated location without any issue but the minute he uncorked it, Kanata tripped and spilled the perfume all over Aegis’s uniform.

Needless to say the party began cracking jokes, claiming the monster would head straight for Aegis so he ought to stay on guard. All the while Kanata apologized profusely. He even tried dabbing the perfume off with his shoulder cape, but there wasn’t much anyone could do for the former knight now that the scent seeped into the fabric. The only voice absent from the teasing was Vicious, who stood a few feet back with his hand pressed against his nose. The Great Transgressor grimaced like he might be sick and fanned the air away from his face with his opposite hand. Aegis had never seen him look so repulsed before, it was _strange_. How could a little perfume bottle faze someone so untouchable?

Even stranger was the fact that Aegis couldn’t smell _anything_. The perfume, as far as he and everyone else were concerned, was odorless. Being a scent only monsters could sniff out, it made sense humans wouldn’t be able to perceive it the same way.

However Aegis didn’t have any more time to think about it. The perfume worked its magic and drew out the beast responsible for attacking the village. While it was a tough foe it stood no match against five blood sins and the monster was slain without any major issue. Vicious kept his distance from Aegis and stayed unusually quiet on their walk back to town. Aegis wasn’t the only one who took notice, as Kanata asked if Vicious was feeling alright. He brushed it aside and claimed it was a headache, then Misella chimed in to say she liked it better when he didn’t speak. 

Perhaps the strangest of all, Vicious didn’t argue back at her.

The town was so grateful to have the monster problem solved that they let the party stay at the inn overnight for free. They weren’t about to pass up such an offer, especially when Aegis reminded everyone about their lack of funds, and when night fell everyone settled into their respective rooms. 

Things only got weirder the moment Vicious closed the door to their room.

As though he'd been holding it back all day long, Vicious let loose a sharp groan and heaved, then pressed a hand to his temple. “What the _hell_ are ya tryna do t’me?!” He audibly gagged and rubbed his nose furiously. “S’like this shit’s stuck up here, _ugh_ …”

To say Aegis was surprised would be an understatement. The groan made him jump and seeing Vicious look so drained confused him even further. Yet all he could do was stand there and gape for a solid ten seconds. Any and all thoughts screeched to a halt and he didn’t know _how_ to answer that or _where_ to begin. Aegis wasn’t doing anything to harm Vicious, not on purpose, and insinuating that he was responsible for Vicious’s poor condition annoyed him to no end.

So he pursed his lips and tried to reason with the debilitated Transgressor. “I am not _trying_ to do anything, Vicious,” Aegis said, crossing his arms. “Do not blame your weakened state on me.”

Vicious didn’t seem to register Aegis’s response (which only irritated him more). He slumped against the wall and let out the most pathetic whine Aegis ever heard. “ _Uuungh_ , I can’t do this no more…” The hand fell away from his nose and hung limply at his side while the other remained glued to his temples. His eyes were glassy and unfocused,which sent a concerned pang through Aegis’s chest. Physically Vicious looked the same as always, so what was it that rendered him to this sad state?

It all started when Kanata spilled the perfume on him. Vicious was the only one that seemed to be able to pick up its scent. If it truly smelled so bad to him, then being exposed to it all day and now all night must be nothing short of torture- especially if it made him so _sick_.

But _why_ did Vicious pick up on the perfume’s scent? Aegis didn’t think he was completely human, but for Vicious to be able to smell the monster perfume, he would have to be a monster himself, wouldn’t he? 

His skin prickled at the thought and the hair stood up on the back of his neck. The idea of Vicious secretly being a monster in human skin didn’t sound too far off the mark, but the concept made his stomach turn unpleasantly.

Aegis had no proof of it, so he wouldn’t think about it. Simple as that. Instead he wet his lips and approached Vicious, first leaning in front of him to try and make eye contact. When that failed Aegis waved a hand in front of his eyes and tried to ignore his rapidly rising heart beat. “Vicious?” he tried, “If you can hear me, please respond.”

At the sound of Aegis’s voice Vicious blinked slowly, his eyes trying to focus on the former knight in front of him. He stared at Aegis, then gazed down at the now mostly dry stain from the perfume earlier on the front of his uniform. Vicious continued to blink lazily and Aegis was about to speak again when Vicious slowly teetered in place. He leaned backward and Aegis braced himself in case he had to stop Vicious from falling over. But all of a sudden he changed direction and collapsed right into Aegis, his face landing smack into his collarbone.

The former knight yelped, startled. He immediately hooked his arms under Vicious, fearing he’d topple over and send them both falling down to the floor. 

“V-Vicious!” Aegis grunted, trying to keep the Great Transgressor on his feet. He’d never before felt so fortunate to have been a spearman, as no other weapon training would have given him the upper body strength he needed to support Vicious’s weight against him. “Come now, the _least_ you could do is collapse into bed for me!” He grumbled and began trudging to the nearest bed, careful not to drop him. “Would’ve made my life a lot easier…”

Aegis managed to drag him to the bed, and he sat himself down on the edge of the mattress. He tried to heave Vicious off of him and onto the blankets, but the damned Transgressor was so insistent on staying right where he was in Aegis’s collarbone. No matter how much Aegis pushed, Vicious remained clung to the teal fabric. 

“Vicious, you _need_ to _lay down_!” Aegis huffed, giving him one final shove into the pillows. Perhaps it was too good of a shove, or Vicious wasn’t as out of it as he thought, because he felt the hands on the back of his uniform slide to his ribs. The next thing he knew, he went toppling down with Vicious. Aegis fell back onto the bed and the extra weight of Vicious on top of him knocked the air out of him. If Vicious was the least bit coherent, Aegis was certain he would be making all sorts of suggestive comments. Instead all he got was a muffled grunt with no attempts to move.

Well, he got Vicious to bed. That’s all that mattered. Now if he could just get up, he could go call for the rest of the party to see if they knew what to do about Vicious. Ignoring the heat rising in his cheeks from being so close to Vicious and _the fact that he was on top of him,_ Aegis swallowed hard and went to sit up. Or that was the plan, if not for the hands still holding tight to his ribs. Aegis pushed up against his shoulders but Vicious refused to let go, going so far as to whine at him like a child who didn’t get their way.

“Vicious, _please_ ,” Aegis hissed through his teeth. “I’m not spending all night like this!” His heart wouldn’t be able to take it. It was already thundering away as is, he didn’t want to imagine spending the whole night like that. After a couple shoves with no luck Aegis threw his head back into the pillows with a frustrated groan. “ _What_ has gotten into you...?” He murmured. Vicious let out a relaxed sigh as his already lidded eyes fluttered shut, and he rubbed his cheek into the fabric with a quiet hum. How unfair of him to look so content while Aegis could barely move.

He considered calling out for Kanata, Misella, or Yuna, but the likelihood of them hearing was slim. Plus he would never hear the end of it if they walked in to see Vicious face first in Aegis’s chest. Misella already called him a pig once, he could only imagine the kind of teasing and jokes that would come of this.

He stared up at the ceiling and considered those possibilities before finally mumbling to himself, “I’m stuck like this. Aren’t I?”

As if to answer Vicious let out a small _mmn_ and squeezed his uniform. Aegis’s eye twitched. “Go on, make yourself comfortable,” he grumbled, loosening his tie and dropping it on the nightstand next to the bed. “We’re certainly going to be here awhile.”

It was just one night. Aegis could handle that. After all, he had seen and lived through worse. This was _nothing!_

Vicious’s hands worked at the teal fabric, curling in and out of fists that brushed against Aegis’s waist in a way that involuntarily made him giggle and squirm.

_Oh no._

“Vi _-hih!-_ cious!” Aegis sputtered, trying to contain his laughter. “Stop that! You don’t need to know I’m tickli- _hihish_ !” He desperately pawed Vicious’s hands off his waist, hoping the constant swatting would be enough to keep them off his person. But even in an incoherent state Vicious _had_ to be a pest and he kept trying to grab the same place, making little dissatisfied noises all the while. Aegis could only hope Vicious didn’t remember any of this in the morning; he didn’t want to think about how the Great Transgressor could weaponize this weakness.

Fortunately for Aegis it seemed the swatting paid off and Vicious, letting out a disappointed hum, took to grabbing the quilted blue section by his collarbone instead of his waist. Heaving a sigh Aegis leaned back into the pillows and massaged his cheeks. “You are truly cruel, you know that, don’t you?” Aegis mumbled. “Your crimes are one thing, but tickling is _just plain_ -”

Aegis glanced down to see Vicious staring up at him with heavy lidded eyes. A shiver went up his spine and Aegis wanted to start squirming all over again. Trapped in his gaze, it was like Vicious was looking at him yet through him at the same time. He blinked lazily as Aegis shifted uneasily beneath him. “What? Don’t tell me you’re about to jump up and proclaim that this was some elaborate prank or…”

He hadn’t noticed it before, but Vicious’s pupils stretched to slits and the purple hue seemed to glow ever so faintly. So dimly Aegis thought he might have been imagining it- and who knows, maybe he _was_ seeing things. But the sight made his pulse quicken and, without any hesitation, Aegis lifted a hand to smoothe Vicious’s bangs out of his eyes. For a better look, or for something more, he didn’t know. All he knew was that his eyes didn’t look like that before.

“...Who _are_ you, Vicious…?”

The question raised barely above a whisper, knowing he wouldn’t receive a real answer. Even if he asked while Vicious was awake and alert the Great Transgressor would find _some_ way to dodge it just like always. 

With the hand on his head Vicious’s eyes closed and he laid his head back down on Aegis’s chest. He let out a small breath and he didn’t stir again. Only the steady rise and fall of his chest signaled to Aegis that he was fast asleep. Having shared multiple rooms with him thus far in their journey, Aegis knew Vicious liked to sprawl out and snore in his sleep. So it came as a surprise to see him _not_ do that. His lips parted just enough to allow him to exhale, leaving no room for his usual obnoxious snoring. The oddities kept piling up.

Aegis watched him for an unknown amount of time, befuddled but bewitched by everything he had witnessed that evening. No human could do the same things as Vicious, and while _monster_ was an apt term for him considering his crimes (and _awful_ personality), it was a little hard to imagine him as a literal monster. But what else would explain his odd behavior around the perfume?

Could Vicious be a monster? Aegis sighed through his nose and closed his eyes. He hated that he was actually entertaining the thought. The first indicator would be everything that went down earlier leading up til the present. 

The monster perfume only attracted monsters, and after having the whole front of his uniform doused with the stuff all day, Aegis could say with certainty that it was odorless. Vicious was the only one in their party to react negatively to it- to react to it _at all_. Aegis recalled how ill Vicious looked as soon as the perfume splattered all over him, and how out of it he had been since. Then he was incapacitated as soon as they arrived at the inn, and the rest was history.

And of course there was his eyes. Inhuman and lit with a dim glow, in that moment Aegis didn’t think he was looking at a person in the slightest.

But aside from the day's events, what else pointed to Vicious being a monster? He supposed the blood sins might count. Much like Vicious, the blood sins were wrapped in mystery, without a clue as to how or why Vicious could manipulate Stains of Guilt. Vicious liked to use the same excuse over again- ‘ _I’m the Great Transgressor_ ’, as if that explained anything. Aegis reached the point where he might as well accept that as the answer. Who else could manipulate a transgressors Stain than the Great Transgressor himself?

There had to be other reasons and possibilities, but the last one Aegis could think of something Misella mentioned once. It was during their usual banter around a campfire for the night when Vicious had made an offhand comment about Misella’s stab wound not being enough to kill him. Misella said she would find another way to do him in while Kanata pleaded for her not to do that again. Aegis didn’t think too much about it at the time but upon reflection, Vicious _did_ survive a lot of things that _should_ mortally wound a person- if not outright kill them. As concerning as that was, Aegis hadn’t come across any monsters that could regenerate that rapidly (at least that he could remember this late into the night).

Shaking his head Aegis opened his eyes to see Vicious in the same spot. Half of his face was shoved into Aegis’s chest, inhaling whatever was left of the scent on him. His right eye twitched and his whole face scrunched up for a minute, only to relax and squish his nose further into the fabric with a content hum. 

The sight brought a soft smile to Aegis’s lips and he couldn’t help but run his hand through Vicious’s messy locks of hair. _Surprisingly_ smooth for someone who fights like he has nothing to lose. He thought for _sure_ it would have more tangles and knots. His fingers combed through the rest of his hair, sliding his bangs out of his face and giggling when the three prominent strands sprung back into place.

It was then Aegis had to kick himself that _this was the Great Transgressor on top of him_ , not some sleeping cat to cuddle. Tomorrow he would wake up and be his usual horrible, crass self. Probably make fun of Aegis for their unusual sleeping arrangement until everyone else in the party caught on. The thought alone weighed him down and nearly tarnished the peaceful atmosphere.

However the thought didn’t stay long, and was washed away as Aegis resumed running his fingers through his hair. He traced the strands of red wherever they appeared, then smoothed them back into place. Vicious may not be a sleeping cat to cuddle, but that wasn’t going to stop Aegis from treating him like one. Especially when this chance would likely never come again, unless they had anymore monster perfume bottles in their inventory.

Eventually his eyes grew heavy and Aegis knew he wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer. He reached for the lamp on the nightstand and one last look at Vicious. Who else could say they’ve seen the Great Transgressor look so unassuming and vulnerable? Aegis wanted to remember this moment.

Even if he turned out to be a monster, there was _something_ human there. A trace of something that had to be more than monstrous. Of that, in spite of Vicious’s misdeeds, Aegis was certain.

Aegis smiled and gave Vicious one last caress, letting his fingers linger in his black locks before slipping through. The light clicked off.

“Goodnight, Vicious.”

**Author's Note:**

> the next morning vicious woke still hella sleepy and bleary and kinda like a hangover but without the headache and remembered nothing. aegis spent 30 minutes scrubbing perfume out of his uniform.


End file.
